Paul Reynolds, internet developer, commentator and catalyst, died suddenly yesterday morning. He would have understood and approved of the way the sad news spread – via Twitter, Facebook and old-fashioned email.

In the spirit with which he lived and pioneered I have to announce this to all his friends online. Dear Paul Reynolds - the magnificent man who told us so much about the whole cosmos of computers and the wonders of the digital world - died this morning of a leukaemia he (and we) never knew he had. Our thoughts are with Helen and his much loved daughter Melanie

Like everyone else, I was dumbfounded. I last saw him exactly a week ago, at Social Media Junction, where he had, as ever, expressed his vision for what our new tools could do.

I met Paul in 1995, when he was, with David Merritt, the co-author of The Internet: A New Zealand Guide. Paul had been a book reviewer and a reader for Penguin New Zealand and other imprints, and he pitched Geoff Walker at Penguin the idea of a handbook for the new medium. It eventually sold more than 10,000 copies.

There may have been some professional rivalry at play – Bruce Simpson and I wrote a more modest guide, The Internet: Plain and Simple for IDG around the same time – but this interesting Scotsman turned out to be good to know. He brought a whole other history with him: I believe he once helped run the legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scott's. Plenty of life had been lived before the internet arrived for him.

Most people will recall him as the Scotsman who talked on the radio to Kim Hill and through his columns for The Dominion, but his great and enduring contribution to New Zealand lies in the heritage sector – libraries, archives and museums.

McGovern Online, the development company he launched with his partner, Helen Smith, built the first proper website for Auckland City Library. Sites for the Waitangi Tribunal, Katherine Mansfield House, the Chartwell Collection,the Colin McCahon House and six years' worth of websites for the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival make up only part of the portfolio.

He served on the New Zealand Government Digital Strategy Advisory Group, the Capability Panel for the Advanced Network (KAREN), the New Zealand Library and Information Advisory Commission, and the board of Auckland War Memorial Museum.

In the same month, he was invited to write this post, a celebration and critique of the New Zealand GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) for the Museums Computer Group in Britain. And he made an excellent appearance on a Media7 show focused on the state of the internet in New Zealand. (Video: Part 1 and Part 2.)

When I saw Paul last Monday, he was coming off a busy schedule of lectures and presentations around the country. We had a good chat about the state of things, and about the work my sons have been doing this year. He was delighted by that. He also asked us not to invite him to Foo Camp next year – he felt he'd made his contribution, and a place should be opened to someone younger "with more energy than me."

I don't think anyone would ever have accused Paul Reynolds of lacking energy. But that he'd made his contribution? No one could ever doubt that. Rest in peace, Paul. You changed your adopted country more than you could know.

Gutted. Paul's office was next to ours in the HB Building, and we would always meet when either Paul or I were on our way somewhere. I remember thinking I'd love to ask him out for a proper coffee and a meal sometime ... I guess I should realise these thoughts are to be acted on, not just mused upon.

I am so shocked. I met with Paul for the first time when he was in Dunedin a week or 2 ago. Over a coffee we made plans, discussed ideas, drew diagrams and laughed. I was so impressed with his passion and enthusiasm and ability to see the big picture.

He encouraged me in the first place to becomer a blogger and subsequently he taught me everything I know about blogging. I was/am pretty much computer-illiterate and I recall his great patience with me as he taught me the ins and outs of the cyber world I was entering. For quite a while I would make a monthly visit to McGovern Online's offices in Auckland for another lesson on the gentle art of blogging.These visits gradually became less and less frequent but my e-mail queries continued with the last one being only 10 days ago.

Paul was an enormous supporter of public libraries and literary festivals and created many of their websites. He was a kind and generous friend whom I shall miss enormously. New Zealand has been robbed of a man who gave much and still had much to offer. What a bloody tragedy.

And Helen, to you, my love and deepest sympathy.My thoughts are with you at this very sad time.

I'm feeling really weird about this. When I heard last night on Twitter that Paul Reynolds had died, my first thought was the namesake Telecom CEO.

Then I had a look at his People Points blog and thought, oh, yeah, that guy - the one who asked a question at the Great Blend in 2006. That's the only memory I have of him.

And it bothers me that he's lead this amazing life, done all this important stuff, been an active part of the interweb community for years and yet his achievements have more or less totally passed me by.

I feel like maybe I've been living in a bubble for the past 15 years, ignoring the greatness going on in the neighbourhood around me. Perhaps I can take this as a sign to expand my horizons.

The unexpected demise of valued people provokes existential thoughts, treat everyone better, have that coffee indeed.

Paul brings back memories of the clunky past–netscape vs. explorer, ihug offers flat rate, etc. and his knowledge seemed to balloon as the years went by, mirroring the development of the internet world he conveyed so well to many of us listeners and readers. He was so not the ‘other’ Paul Reynolds!

It's a big loss for the library world. I remember being very impressed with him at the Library Association conference in 2007 when I was a proto-librarian and I made an effort to follow his blog and his commentary in other sectors - such as on Radio NZ - ever since. We definitely feel his loss here at the National Library. Rest in peace Paul.

I'm feeling upset at the loss of a rare intellectually-generous visionary and warm genuine man who I first met about 20 years ago before the internet loomed so large. It was a privilege re-connecting in person over the past few years after long hearing his voice in conversations about stewarding knowledge, national identity and transformative potential.

I will always treasure that at Kiwi Foo camp earlier this year when I signed up for Twitter from the same spot I first ever switched on a computer, Paul instantly realised the significance from another room and in under a minute had re-tweeted my first message to his followers. He was so good at getting people on their way.

My best wishes to his partner Helen, their family and all the friends and colleagues whose lives this wonderful man has touched.

I don't think I've ever met anyone with quite so many ideas as Paul had. I remember meeting him for a coffee a few years back when we first started doing PR for Google and feeling like the slowest person in the room - I literally couldn't keep up with his amazing train of thought. What he was talking about then was - still is - light years ahead of its time.

I've been similarly awestruck every time I've seen him since, not least last week at the Social Media Junction where he was without a doubt the most interesting speaker of the day.

The world will definitely be a less interesting place without Paul around.

Always an appreciated voice on IT issues known and unknown to me and a joy each time a regular radio spot was his contribution, personably given and with warm hearted understanding for the inexperienced and industry alike.

This is such a sad loss. We learned so much from Paul, he helped shape the way that Auckland City Libraries delivers its services today. He was passionate and inspiring. He broadened my horizons about what is possible. Plus he was the one who introduced me to the world of podcasts and the Archers. We will miss him enormously, his contribution lives on.

Russell, thanks for this tribute. In the mid 90s Paul came to advise the Dictionary of NZ Biography on the potential of getting such information on-line, which led to history.net and eventually Te Ara. I wasn't involved in those discussions but he was friendly, and generous with his time with the ordinary workers too. Ditto with various digital information seminars at the National Library.

And had the very rare talent for making very complex matters accessible without crossing the line into patronising dumbing-down for the tech-tard hoi polloi. Reynolds was a "public intellectual" in the very best, non-wanky sense.

I said this over on Janet Wilson's site (in answer to Bill R's rant about how stupid social media is):

We last caught up at the Social Media Junction where he was speaking about museums.

He was gracious as usual (”I’m not the other Paul Reynolds”) and bumptious (”These lights are too bright”, they were too) and just typically Paul, getting stuck into Thatcher and then complaining about conference hosts who don’t have clocks on the wall so speakers can’t tell how long they’ve got left.

I got to heckle him for that (”Buy a watch”) and he got to complain that I never shut up and now he won’t get to badger me for an iPad and we won’t get talk about how it might be the saving of the newspaper industry and that is that.